Layers

Layers in Pixaki 4 are shared across the whole animation, which is a significant change from Pixaki 3. There are three types of layer in Pixaki:

Animation: This is the default layer type. An animation layer has its own timeline, with independent cels on each frame.
Static image: A static image layer isn’t animated, but has one cel that is the same throughout the entire animation. Static image layers should be used for creating foreground and background elements.
Reference: Reference layers hold images that can be a much higher resolution than the canvas, and are used for reference. These can’t be drawn on and won’t be included when exporting, but the images can be resized without distorting and repositioned to be used as a guide. Like static image layers, reference layers are the same across the entire animation timeline.

Create

To create a new animation layer, tap on the button in the layers panel.

You can also create a layer by importing an image. Tap on the button in the layers panel, and choose either ‘Import file’ to select an image from Files, or ‘Import photo’ to select an image from your photo library. The imported image will be centred on the canvas.

To create a static image layer, first create an animation layer, then use the layers menu to convert it.

To create a reference layer, tap on the button in the layers panel, and choose either ‘Import reference file’ to select an image from Files, or ‘Import reference photo’ to select an image from your photo library.

Reorder and group

To move a layer, press and hold the layer you’d like to move, and drag it to where you’d like it to be.

Dragging one layer on top of another will create a layer group. Dragging a layer on top of an existing group will place that layer into the group.

Groups can also be created from the bulk actions menu.

Reference layers cannot be placed in groups as doing so would interfere with layer blend modes.

Actions

You can perform actions on a layer through the layer menu. Tap on the layer name of the currently selected layer in the layers list to open the menu for that layer.

Artwork by waneella.

Adjust the visibility

Toggle the visibility of the layer using the button in the layer menu. Adjust the opacity using the opacity slider. Tapping on the and icons will decrement or increment the value respectively. The current opacity is shown above the slider as a percentage value.

Blending

Layer blend modes make it possible to combine the contents of multiple layers together in many different ways. There are eighteen blend modes available in Pixaki: darken, multiply, colour burn, lighten, screen, colour dodge, addition, overlay, soft light, hard light, difference, exclusion, subtract, divide, hue, saturation, colour, and luminosity.

You can change the blend mode by selecting ‘Blending’ from the layer menu and choosing the desired value. The canvas will update immediately to show the results.

Blend modes can be a little hard to comprehend, but they are fun to experiment with. They are great for highlights and shadows, lighting effects, or quickly recolouring an entire project.

Lock alpha

Locking the alpha of a layer preserves the transparency when editing any of the cels in the layer. This means that brush strokes, for example, will only affect areas that have previously been painted. This is particularly useful for adding shadows and highlights or texture to an existing drawing.

Any pixels that are semi-transparent will maintain their alpha value (transparency) when painted. Alpha lock does not affect tools that erase, move, or transform.

Rename

To rename a layer, bring up the layer menu and select ‘Rename’. Enter the name you’d like for this layer, then select ‘Done’.

To cancel renaming and keep the existing name, select ‘Cancel’.

Remember that layers are shared across all the animation frames when organising your project. Choose layer names that apply across the entire animation, like “Line art”, “Colour”, “Shadows” etc.

Cut, copy, and paste

To cut or copy a layer, select the ‘Cut’ or ‘Copy’ option from the layer menu.

Layers can be pasted as a new layers in the current project or any other project by selecting ‘Paste’ from the layer menu. The entire animation for the layer is always copied, irrespective of the currently selected frame. When pasting into a project with fewer frames of animation, all available frames will be filled with the contents of the pasted layer, and any other frames of animation will be discarded.

Cels and images can also be pasted as new layers.

Convert to static image

A static image layer remains the same across the entire timeline. To turn an animated layer into a static image, select ‘Convert to static image’ from the layer menu. The words “Static image” will now show underneath the layer name in the list.

To convert a static image into an animated layer, select “Convert to animation” in the layer menu.

When converting an animated layer to a static image, the cel for the current frame of animation is used, and all other cels on the layer’s timeline are deleted.

Merge

To merge layers together, select ‘Merge down’ or ‘Merge’ from the layer menu.

If either or both of the layers are not at 100% opacity, then the resulting layer will have semi-transparent pixels, but the layer itself will always be created at 100% opacity.

Merging animation layers with static image layers will produce an animation layer.

Reference layers cannot be merged.

Duplicate

To duplicate a layer, select ‘Duplicate’ from the layer menu. This will create an exact copy of the selected layer.

Delete

To delete a layer, select ‘Delete’ from the layer menu.

Bulk actions

To enter layer selection mode, tap on the button in the layers panel, and choose ‘Select layers’. In selection mode, tapping on a layer will add it to the selection, or remove it if it is already in the selection. Select the ‘Actions’ button in the top left to perform actions on multiple layers at once.